Shmaltz Brewing Company Hosts Party, Toasts to One Year at Clifton Park Location

Shmaltz Brewing Company Hosts Party, Toasts to One Year at Clifton Park Location

A Saratoga County brewery rocks the house during its “Beer Gangs of New York” party

By Rosemary O. Fernandez

Photograph courtesy of Shmaltz Brewing Company

The fun-loving Shmaltz Brewing Company — the team behind the award-winning He’Brew, the Chosen Beers line of 12 Jewish-themed brews — is celebrating its one-year anniversary at its Clifton Park location with a suds-filled shindig on Saturday, May 17.

Read our profile on Shmaltz Brewing Company

Shmaltz actually launched in 1996, but for 16 years the company had no home. Instead, owner Jeremy Cowan functioned as a contract brewer, meaning that — much like the ancestral Jews wandering around the desert — he brought his recipes to various other breweries to be produced. That came to an end in 2013 when Cowan purchased a nearly 20,000-square-foot building; now, 100 percent of Shmaltz’s brews are produced in-house. Never one to miss the opportunity to bestow a clever name on his brews, Cowan has even produced a limited edition black IPA entitled Death of a Contract Brewer.

Photograph by Mark Morand of Mainframe Photography/Courtesy of Shmaltz Brewing Company

All of Shmaltz’s beers are available to sip on Saturday; Death of a Contract Brewer will even be served up in three different fashions: spiked with fresh mango and ginger, with fresh blood orange juice, or just out of a hopped-up barrel-aged cask. The party itself, dubbed the “Beer Gangs of New York,” will feature other Empire State brews, including ones from Kingston’s Keegan Ales (a Best Of winner!) and the Peekskill Brewery. In addition, a Brooklyn-based rock band is set to entertain, and two food trucks will be on hand to provide noms.

The four-hour party starts at 1 p.m.; tours of the facility will be given once every hour. General admission is $25, designated driver tickets cost $15, and — if you hail from Brooklyn — a combined shuttle and admission package costs $50. For more information, visit www.shmaltzbrewing.com.

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